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I guess this depends on what your definition of a first-world problem is. People die here because they can't afford care. People avoiding the larger milestone

I guess this depends on what your definition of a first-world problem is. People die here because they can't afford care. People avoiding the larger milestones in life like owning a home and having children because it's untenable. This will cause larger, show-stopping problems.

abnry 8y ago
People die in developing countries because they don't have access to clean water. That a completely different problem than not being able to afford healthcare or own a home.
- HarryHirsch 8y ago
  Hookworm in Alabama and the Panhandle: https://www.bcm.edu/news/school-of-tropical-medicine/hookworm-poverty-sanitation-alabama https://www.bcm.edu/news/school-of-tropical-medicine/hookwor... Enough said.
  - ericd 8y ago
    It’s really not. Go down to Dhaka’s main river. Gag due to the clouds of gas coming off the raw sewage, and watch as people wash themselves and their clothes in the same river that people are shitting in. It’s absolutely absurd to compare the US to anything like it.
    - zeropnc 8y ago
      There is an actual commenter here suggesting Flint is an example of "3rd world country". You'd think in the age of YouTube people would have more perspective on the rest of the world. Seriously, one stroll down the giant open air landfills (which double as housing for hundreds of people) of Dhaka should be enough to be eternally thankful for what one has.
      - addicted 8y ago
        The poster you mention absolutely does not say that. The poster says Flint’s clean water problems are the kind you would find in a 3rd world country. I think you are clearly misreading both the article and people’s comments to it. No one is suggesting the US is a 3rd world country. But in certain areas it’s statistics resemble 3rd world country outcomes more than it does developed country outcomes. The reason this is important is that the US is usually an outlier in developed countries in this area, which means solutions to these problems exist.
    - HarryHirsch 8y ago
      Guess we have different expectations for a first-world country then. This kind of sewage-borne disease should have been eliminated in any developed country, a hookworm infestation is soil-transmitted, you acquire it by walking through sewage. The municipalities can't fix the sewage system, and the health authorities can't screen for intestinal worms and hand out medication worth pennies. It's shameful to see.
      - ericd 8y ago
        I'm not saying that the US shouldn't do better, it absolutely should. But it's also important to try to keep a little perspective, and be thankful for how lucky we are.
- sschueller 8y ago
  Do people in Flint have clean water? The fact that the problem still hasn't been solved but instead brushed under the rug and even the president going there declaring it's all good now shows how corrupt the whole system is. Something like that you find in 3rd world nations.
  - zeropnc 8y ago
    Have you ever been to a 3rd world nation? You have no conception of what it's like if you really think living in Flint is somehow an analogue. The sheer lack of perspective of Americans is baffling. You have no conception of just how difficult life can be and frankly, is, for the vast majority of people.
    - yourbandsucks 8y ago
      The issue is the trend lines. Play the tape forward on our continual lack of infrastructure investment, our slouch towards oligarchy, our fractious internal tribalism.. the root causes behind 3rd world problems are sneaking up on us.
      - futureastronaut 8y ago
        What if I told you TA doesn't work for geopolitics.
        yourbandsucks 8y ago
        Care to make a more substantive analysis and educate me?
malvosenior 8y ago
Not being able to afford a home is definitely a first world problem. In the third world you have to regularly bribe police, hope no one visits your family in the middle of the night, don't have access to clean food or water... Even life at the lowest rungs of US culture have it way better than most in a third world country. We have law and order and pretty good public infrastructure.
- blocked_again 8y ago
  When was the last time you stayed in a "third world" country?
  - malvosenior 8y ago
    About ten years ago and I have relatives that live in one. The examples I gave come from personal experience or that of people I know.
    - blocked_again 8y ago
      > third world you have to regularly bribe police, Been living in India for more than 2 decades. Never had to bribe the police once. > hope no one visits your family in the middle of the night, Funny you mentioned that. USA has worse criminal violence than most countries in the world. Gun violence is entirely a US phenomena. > don't have access to clean food or water. Never faced the issue of clean food or drinking water in my entire life. And I am from lower middle class. > Even life at the lowest rungs of US culture have it way better than most in a third world country Really? I prefer to live in a country where I can afford healthcare atleast. Probably a great idea to visit some so called "third world" countries and see for yoursevles. If you dont have time for that read Fact-fullness.
      - rosterface 8y ago
        India is number 2 on this list, the US is 14: https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent-crime/Murder-rate https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violen... You haven't had issue with clean water? I'd say you're pretty lucky then: https://water.org/our-impact/india/ https://water.org/our-impact/india/
zeropnc 8y ago
People in the rest of the world die because there literally isn't good care available, regardless of whether they can afford it. As a kid, I once got a big cut and my doctor's only solution was to dump an old vial of iodine on it because they didn't have bandaids. All you (and a few other comments here) are doing is proving my point. Complain all you want, but don't for a second think your problems are even remotely close to what the majority of the rest of the world endures. I suspect the West as a whole hasn't had real problems in a very long time, so a generation is growing up magnifying their own to victimize themselves. Americans are particularly bad about this.
- ericd 8y ago
  I think I agree with your summary of what's happening in the US re: magnifying problems - our range of experiences has become much narrower as things have become safer and more controlled, so it takes less and less extreme experiences to reach the extremes of our personal experience.
- blitmap 8y ago
  I am fully convinced you want to dismiss any real issue the US may be having. Police brutality, the opioid epidemic, over-prescription of medications, poverty levels, children going hungry in schools, and now publicized election fraud. There are problems. Stop acting like we can't have problems because other countries have problems you see as worse.
  - zeropnc 8y ago
    I never said you can't have problems. I'm saying the fact that you think your problems are even comparable to most of the rest of the world comes from a lack of perspective & education. You're more likely to get hit by an asteroid than killed by a cop in the US - the fact that you think it's a real issue worth talking about, in a thread about 3rd world countries, shows your lack of perspective. Go tell someone in Sierra Leone about police brutality stats and poverty levels and see how you get on. I highly recommend you get out of your internet-San Francisco bubble and go and travel off the beaten path to get a better understanding of what the rest of the world still lives like.

abnry 8y ago

People die in developing countries because they don't have access to clean water. That a completely different problem than not being able to afford healthcare or own a home.

HarryHirsch 8y ago
Hookworm in Alabama and the Panhandle: https://www.bcm.edu/news/school-of-tropical-medicine/hookworm-poverty-sanitation-alabama https://www.bcm.edu/news/school-of-tropical-medicine/hookwor... Enough said.
- ericd 8y ago
  It’s really not. Go down to Dhaka’s main river. Gag due to the clouds of gas coming off the raw sewage, and watch as people wash themselves and their clothes in the same river that people are shitting in. It’s absolutely absurd to compare the US to anything like it.
  - zeropnc 8y ago
    There is an actual commenter here suggesting Flint is an example of "3rd world country". You'd think in the age of YouTube people would have more perspective on the rest of the world. Seriously, one stroll down the giant open air landfills (which double as housing for hundreds of people) of Dhaka should be enough to be eternally thankful for what one has.
    - addicted 8y ago
      The poster you mention absolutely does not say that. The poster says Flint’s clean water problems are the kind you would find in a 3rd world country. I think you are clearly misreading both the article and people’s comments to it. No one is suggesting the US is a 3rd world country. But in certain areas it’s statistics resemble 3rd world country outcomes more than it does developed country outcomes. The reason this is important is that the US is usually an outlier in developed countries in this area, which means solutions to these problems exist.
  - HarryHirsch 8y ago
    Guess we have different expectations for a first-world country then. This kind of sewage-borne disease should have been eliminated in any developed country, a hookworm infestation is soil-transmitted, you acquire it by walking through sewage. The municipalities can't fix the sewage system, and the health authorities can't screen for intestinal worms and hand out medication worth pennies. It's shameful to see.
    - ericd 8y ago
      I'm not saying that the US shouldn't do better, it absolutely should. But it's also important to try to keep a little perspective, and be thankful for how lucky we are.
sschueller 8y ago
Do people in Flint have clean water? The fact that the problem still hasn't been solved but instead brushed under the rug and even the president going there declaring it's all good now shows how corrupt the whole system is. Something like that you find in 3rd world nations.
- zeropnc 8y ago
  Have you ever been to a 3rd world nation? You have no conception of what it's like if you really think living in Flint is somehow an analogue. The sheer lack of perspective of Americans is baffling. You have no conception of just how difficult life can be and frankly, is, for the vast majority of people.
  - yourbandsucks 8y ago
    The issue is the trend lines. Play the tape forward on our continual lack of infrastructure investment, our slouch towards oligarchy, our fractious internal tribalism.. the root causes behind 3rd world problems are sneaking up on us.
    - futureastronaut 8y ago
      What if I told you TA doesn't work for geopolitics.
      - yourbandsucks 8y ago
        Care to make a more substantive analysis and educate me?

malvosenior 8y ago

Not being able to afford a home is definitely a first world problem. In the third world you have to regularly bribe police, hope no one visits your family in the middle of the night, don't have access to clean food or water... Even life at the lowest rungs of US culture have it way better than most in a third world country. We have law and order and pretty good public infrastructure.

blocked_again 8y ago
When was the last time you stayed in a "third world" country?
- malvosenior 8y ago
  About ten years ago and I have relatives that live in one. The examples I gave come from personal experience or that of people I know.
  - blocked_again 8y ago
    > third world you have to regularly bribe police, Been living in India for more than 2 decades. Never had to bribe the police once. > hope no one visits your family in the middle of the night, Funny you mentioned that. USA has worse criminal violence than most countries in the world. Gun violence is entirely a US phenomena. > don't have access to clean food or water. Never faced the issue of clean food or drinking water in my entire life. And I am from lower middle class. > Even life at the lowest rungs of US culture have it way better than most in a third world country Really? I prefer to live in a country where I can afford healthcare atleast. Probably a great idea to visit some so called "third world" countries and see for yoursevles. If you dont have time for that read Fact-fullness.
    - rosterface 8y ago
      India is number 2 on this list, the US is 14: https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent-crime/Murder-rate https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violen... You haven't had issue with clean water? I'd say you're pretty lucky then: https://water.org/our-impact/india/ https://water.org/our-impact/india/

zeropnc 8y ago

People in the rest of the world die because there literally isn't good care available, regardless of whether they can afford it. As a kid, I once got a big cut and my doctor's only solution was to dump an old vial of iodine on it because they didn't have bandaids. All you (and a few other comments here) are doing is proving my point. Complain all you want, but don't for a second think your problems are even remotely close to what the majority of the rest of the world endures. I suspect the West as a whole hasn't had real problems in a very long time, so a generation is growing up magnifying their own to victimize themselves. Americans are particularly bad about this.

ericd 8y ago
I think I agree with your summary of what's happening in the US re: magnifying problems - our range of experiences has become much narrower as things have become safer and more controlled, so it takes less and less extreme experiences to reach the extremes of our personal experience.
blitmap 8y ago
I am fully convinced you want to dismiss any real issue the US may be having. Police brutality, the opioid epidemic, over-prescription of medications, poverty levels, children going hungry in schools, and now publicized election fraud. There are problems. Stop acting like we can't have problems because other countries have problems you see as worse.
- zeropnc 8y ago
  I never said you can't have problems. I'm saying the fact that you think your problems are even comparable to most of the rest of the world comes from a lack of perspective & education. You're more likely to get hit by an asteroid than killed by a cop in the US - the fact that you think it's a real issue worth talking about, in a thread about 3rd world countries, shows your lack of perspective. Go tell someone in Sierra Leone about police brutality stats and poverty levels and see how you get on. I highly recommend you get out of your internet-San Francisco bubble and go and travel off the beaten path to get a better understanding of what the rest of the world still lives like.